Contents

Background

Little is known about Izzy's early life, other than she somehow became a sadistic, manipulative psychopath. She also once mentioned to Henry LaMontagne that she had a grandfather who was "a scary man". In her adult years, she somehow became a lethal assassin and, in 2004, murdered an ambassador at Scotland Yard in London, England. The only clues to the murder were a stash of fake ID cards left behind in a car previously stolen by her. The assassination was investigated by Prentiss and her JTF-12 team. Izzy also presumably killed additional victims as an assassin. While in Chad in 2008, during a civil unrest occurring there at the time, Izzy met Matthew Downs, a U.S. Marine who suffered from PTSD and had established anarchist ideals against the U.S. government. The two became lovers and constructed an elaborate plan to attack Washington, D.C.

After making deadly test-runs of homemade bombs in N'Djamena, the capital city of Chad, killing thirty people, mostly at a church and a train station, Izzy then began conducting bank robberies all across the world in order to fund for her and Matthew's attack, killing a random hostage during each bank robbery. Arriving in the U.S. to continue the funding phase, Izzy recruited amateur bank robbers and brothers Chris and Oliver Stratton as her accomplices, reshaping them into efficient criminals. The trio began committing bank robberies in areas making a straight path to D.C. During these robberies, she continued to shoot a random hostage before fleeing. All the while, Matthew would operate behind-the-scenes, his involvement not being known to Chris and Oliver.

Season Seven

Arriving in D.C. on May 16, 2012 (the fourth anniversary of the N'Djamena bombings), Izzy is first seen putting on lipstick and texting 911 on before walking into the Colonial Liberty Bank with Chris and Oliver. The three pass the metal detector gate, which detects Chris and Oliver's guns. When a security guard comes over to check Oliver, Izzy pulls out Chris' gun and kills the guard before the trio swiftly put their masks on and rob the bank. Izzy intimidates the customers and times the robbery while Chris and Oliver grab the money. A police cruiser containing William LaMontagne, Jr. and his partner, Detective Jodi Ketelson, unexpectedly arrives, having responded to the 911 call, forcing the three to finish up quickly. Chris and Oliver try to leave through a side door, only to be confronted by Will and Jodi. A gunfight ensues, with Jodi being killed by Oliver and Oliver being shot and injured by Will. This forces Chris to retreat back inside the bank with the wounded Oliver in tow. Among the hostages is none other than Matthew, and only Izzy is aware of it.

With Oliver badly wounded, Chris begins negotiating with Rossi for a medic in exchange for some hostages. Wanting to prove that they mean business, Izzy coldly shoots and kills Zack Hansen in front of his daughter Reese. Later, Rossi tells Chris that a medic is on the way, stating his and Oliver's names in the process. Chris relays to Izzy the authorities' knowledge of their names. Knowing that her identity isn't exposed, Izzy taunts the authorities by taking off her mask, looking at a security camera, and putting on lipstick. Finally, a medic, Travis Green, is sent inside to mend Oliver's wounds, but Oliver dies before Green can take action. Green then pulls out a gun suddenly, actually being an FBI agent, but Chris kills him before he can pull the trigger. Izzy and Chris begin debating on what to do now, to which Izzy suggests getting an armored truck. She then tells Chris that he should have made Green's death slow by shooting him in the stomach, like she always does. Chris then attempts to get an armored truck and a plane (with no pilots) to Switzerland, which Izzy hastily changes to Chad. Since Chris doesn't have a pilot's license, the BAU assume that Izzy will be the one to pilot the plane.

When Rossi calls again and tries unsuccessfully to turn Izzy and Chris against each other (the BAU having discovered Izzy's text to 911 and intending to use it as leverage), Chris decides to avenge his brother by having Will sent in. Rossi refuses the offer, to which Chris forces Shawn Harper to pick up the line and tell Rossi his name. When Shawn does, Chris then executes him before threatening to do the same process to the rest of the hostages every minute. All the while, Izzy takes pleasure from Chris' actions. Will finally walks in, tells Chris his name, and then gets shot twice by him, again to Izzy's delight. Three hostages, including Reese Hansen, are then released. Izzy then leaves to set a bomb she constructed, near the bank's gas mains. Chris suddenly arrives with Will at gunpoint (Will having survived due to wearing a bulletproof vest) and he asks what she is doing. Izzy simply replies, "You'll find out soon." The two then flee with Will while Matthew and some of the hostages simultaneously escape, right before the bomb explodes and demolishes the bank's interior, killing the hostages that remained and wounding numerous bystanders.

With Will as their only remaining hostage, Izzy decides to use him as her and Chris' leverage, as well as an accessory to her and Matthew's plan, despite Chris' disapproval of her tactic. She then convinces Chris, who is confused about the bombing and holds her at gunpoint, to continue cooperating with her if he wants to get out of the situation alive. They force a medic to mend a gunshot wound inflicted on Will before she kills him. She then receives a call from Matthew, to which Chris stops the car and asks her what the real plan is. Izzy instead shoots Chris repeatedly, dumps him onto the street, and leaves him for dead. She then picks up Matthew, who greets a shocked Will. Will is then forced at gunpoint to drive to his and JJ's house, where Henry is being watched by a neighbor; Izzy intends to "babysit" Henry in order to keep Will compliant as he and Matthew set a large bomb at Union Station. Will convinces the neighbor that Izzy is his cousin and that she will be taking over before leaving with Matthew.

As Henry draws, Izzy continues to watch security footage of the Colonial Liberty Bank to relive the robbery before Henry asks her to play hide-and-seek with him. Izzy decides to scare Henry with a "Ring Around the Rosie", but it doesn't work. She then tells him a story of her (presumed) grandfather, again to scare him, but it apparently doesn't work either. Meanwhile, JJ and Rossi realize that the unsubs know where Henry lives and race to the house. Rossi distracts Izzy while Henry hides himself in a closet, intending to play hide-and-seek with her. JJ arrives and holds Izzy at gunpoint, but is distracted by Henry calling her, to which Izzy gets into a fight with her. After a brief struggle, Izzy is able to grab JJ's fallen gun and point it at her, but she accidentally releases the magazine instead while JJ manages to unload the bullet in the chamber. When JJ is distracted by Henry again, Izzy kicks the agent away and scrambles to get Henry, but is quickly subdued by JJ and arrested by Rossi. Meanwhile, Matthew's attempt at bombing Union Station is foiled when Prentiss disarms a bomb strapped to Will, while Matthew is shot and killed by Hotch when he tried to strangle Morgan.

A mugshot of Izzy after her arrest, revealing her natural hair and the fact that she had been wearing a wig for the duration of her crimes.[2]

It is revealed by Strauss near the end of the episode that Izzy's real name, unknown to the BAU for the duration of the day's events, had been disclosed during interrogation. She gives them her mugshot and adds that Izzy will be sentenced to life in prison after facing charges from the U.S. as well as the other countries in which she has committed murders.

Izzy was mentioned in the Season Eight episode "The Fallen", when she turned out to have become a chapter in Rossi's latest book, Evil Never Rests. Her chapter was apparently titled "Lady X is the Queen of Diamonds".

Modus Operandi

Whenever she killed, Izzy would usually shoot her victims (who were usually randomly selected) once in the stomach with a 9mm Beretta 92FS handgun in order to make them suffer from the pain of the gunshot wound as they bled out. However, she was not hesitant in committing overkill, as seen by her shooting Chris several times. During the Face Card robberies, she wore a mask based on a Queen of Diamonds card. During her bombings, she used bombs made from a combination of C4 and SEMTEX, which had wires colored in red, blue, and yellow, the signature colors of Chad's flag. During the Colonial Liberty Bank robbery, she set one such bomb near the bank's gas lines to ensure that the explosion would be large enough to allow her to make a successful getaway.

Profile

Izzy was profiled by the BAU as a psychopath and a classic symphorophiliac who felt no remorse, even towards her accomplices, as evidenced when she showed no concern for the wounded Oliver in contrast to Chris. Shooting most of her victims in the stomach is a means of a prolonged, painful death, meaning that she has a sadistic streak. Her targeting banks as locations for her murders might be a way of sending a message. The botched robbery at the Colonial Liberty Bank was intentionally staged by her in order to create a difficult situation for her and Matthew to escape from, in order to experience an "adrenaline rush".